Show IM 4 PRO PROGRESS GRESS OF ISLAM it has already been incidentally incident hily mentioned that islam spread rapidly the whole of arabia was waa converted in ten years after the death of mohammed the prophetical office went over to abu bakr who again t was followed by omar both of these carried out the work of developing and securing the success of the new religion and they did it with all the zest that religious enthusiasm thusia sm could inspire othman the third caliph successor was consid considered considers a 4 amk leader aud and at his bis death biath the dignity of successor to the prophet went over to who had lite his re residence in damascus abu bakr was victorious in syria omar oma conquered damascus and jerusalem one of his generals ami subdued egypt and northern africa another general successful in persia and the countries of ancient assyria sanguinary quarrels about the right order of sac succession cession did not bar the outward progress sicila dicilla was conquered spain followed and an attempt was made to subdue gallia this was frustrated by tile victories of charles martell by tours and poitiers but on the shores of the gauges ganges and indus mohammedan kingdoms were founded even when internal quarrels seemed abo to threaten i to break dowa the whole structure it was seen that it was held together as with invisible hands there were at one period three caliphs at one ine time one in bagdad one in cairo and one in cordova but the power of islam was not broken b by this fracture new blood and lire were poured into the body by the turks joining these continued the work of propagation constantinople was taken in 1453 and the victorious hordy carried the cres cent as far as the walls of vienna the dignity of successor now went over to the turkish sultan 1517 selim 1 I added also to his titles of caliph and chief imam that of cervant of the two holy cities it is true that thai the saracens saracena Sara cens and the turks foundoe found on their way most old dead forms of governments which were an ah easy p tey prey to the hordes burning with ra religious zeal and fanaticism but this does not as has been shown wholly account for their marvelous success it can be accounted for on no other ground than to suppose u unseen forces working through the instrumentality of men for a prophetical description of these conquests see see revelations ix it is noticeable that chat islam has riot not yet lost very much territory at al though Spain and sicily and a large part ort of european turkey are now 1 at yet in the heart of asia and africa it is still progress progressing irig even more so it is said than christianity it 11 may be that islam will yet prove a klepping stone for some of those nations to some higher state of religious knowledge to truth AL KORAN A al koran are the holy scriptures A ures of the moslems the word itself means recitation or lecture the book Is a collection of doctrines sermons ps and diame pr precepts apts given by mohammed as divane revelations and constitutes the law book of islam the present arrangement of the different Oh chapters apters is not the work of mohammed he seems to have avoided any such collection of the whole into one volume perhaps with the view of a final revision but his bis successor abu bakr collected the existing fragments ana completed the volume with suet traditions that were still fresh in the memory this work was never universally acknowledged because its discrepancies with other partial collections here and there existing were too apparent the third successor othman oth man undertook an extensive revision and had a great number of copies written which were distributed among the various local authorities in the mohammedan world he also commanded all other copies of the koran to be destroyed but even in the purified form the volume is not free from contradictions which however are no doubt satisfactorily explained by the theologians I 1 judge from analogy with christian theologians who generally explain everything in suras or chapters of unequal length is accidental and seems to have been doneIt done without hout reference to the connection of matter or chronology As a consequence of this the koran is to occidental readers a very tiresome volume but the orientals Orient als who in all their views and inclinations seem to he be contrary to us cleave to the book with a love and reverence revert nee h ard ird to account for koran is the basis of the theology as we well I 1 as of the theoretic and practical jurisprudence of islam it is ie considered the standard of style and language of the arabic tongue and an J the moslems are allowed to read it in arabic it is also the only textbook of the elementary schools and it la Is considered a meritorious work to learn passages of it by heart many moslems are able to recite the whole book and they are honored with the title of hefu haats a word which means keeper preserver watcher rad and is in that sense applied to god himself T DOCTRINES the doctrines ot of islam have bave as their basis such traditions as had been transplanted fromA brabam to the descendants of ishmael many of its doctrines aid precepts are therefore in full harmony with the books of the old and new testaments saud and it bears a striking resemblance sem blance to judaism and christianity ti in other points again it runs in quite an opposite direction the chief doctrines are three the doctrine of the unity of the godhead and of the divine mission of mohammed are comprised in the creed called kelmet Sell met ahe hadet def or which reads there is no god or divinity di vj anity except god and mohammed is his prophet prop bet 91 to these two dogmas comes the third about retribution r trib ution in the next world par paradise Para I 1 Hise ise and hell ate two distine dis religious belil ous ideas of the moslems the chief and most important dogma however to is that of the uni unity y of god the rhe koran says re he 1 is the oue one god the eternal he does not beget and is not begotten and no one is like him with this declaration islam forms as it were a square and faces its opponents all a I 1 round it puts itself in opposition to the heathen with their innumerable gods and goddesses also to judaism which according to talmud does not dechi decline ne to honor sonae some of their loaders leai lors ezra fur for instance as soria sons of god 1 I or their rabbis as lords it opens its fire upon the christian 11 with their athanasian Athan asiati mathematically impossible ideas of and what is worse also upon the revelations of god concerning himself by which we are taught to look to god as to our father our originator hence reconciliation between islam and the other creeds seems impossible the divergence on the first and fundamental doctrine is too great among the qualities of god sin omnipotence ni and omniscience seem to be foremost justice and holiness have only a secondary place one characteristic feature which may be mentioned in this connection is that according to islam god has pre re ordained everything what gappens happens must be it could not have been otherwise every event was mapped out before its occurrence this so called fatalism fat allem arabic or kismet kinnet seems to have been carried to its very farthest extremes by the moslems this doctrine helps them to bear pain paid consoles them in misery and eri enables ables them to yield gracefully to the inevitable on the other hand it tends to foster indifference and weakens the mind when its full activity might perhaps oer haps have averted threatening dangers daners whence this dogma of fatalism comes is not very difficult to imagine the first patriarchs had no doubt clear ideas of a pro pre existence as again revealed in these last days very fully and clearly the Uc accounts counts of the creation in genesis and d other passages show this it is no difficult matter to perceive how ho this doctrine transmitted from mouth to mouth month through generations without the guiding and preservative influence of inspiration should finally become fatalism it is distorted and misunderstood truth it is the twin brother of the augustinian Calvini stice predestination divine revelations come ao ae col comaling Aling to islam through the medium of angels or inspired men gabriel is the chief of the angels mohammed is the chief among the prophets and as such is in referred to as the lord of prophets or 11 rhe fhe het of prophets using an oriental construction st analogous to song of so songs uga for instance the other principal prophets are adam nosh noah abraham moses and jesus the of these ard aid other prophets are thus explained adani adam the pure in god seth the messenger of god noah or nuh the saved one of god abraham I brihim the frield friend of glodi god small email the sacrifice of god J joseph ose h J usuf jusuf the faithful 1 l lu in god ahab Aj jub the patient one in god moses muss musa the word of god david daud the follower of god solomon bolomia suleiman the confidant of god and jesus lea isa I 1 the spirit of god who is the great prophet after mohammed each of the six great prophets adam noah abraham moses jesus and mohammed represented the will of god for a certain dispensation each in turn being superseded by his successor the jews they acknowledge were true believers from the time of now moses to jesus but they discard the tures turea handed down to us as the work of some rome of these holy men on the ground that they have not been handed down as they were originally written the jewish and christian scriptures Scrip turea are therefore no authority whatever only the koran jsn is an authoritative composition I 1 the doctrine of the immortality of the soul is clearly taught as is alto that of a futures future retribution and in the resurrection both men and women are to be rewarded according to the deeds done in the body hell is the receptacle of all lievers levers that is allwoo all who have not accepted islam paradise is the place lace of enjoyment to all those who have t ave sacrificed something for the faith or who have drawn their swords in defense of it this para i dise is a place where the happy will WIN enjoy various kinds ot of earthly pleasures undisturbed by earthly disadvantages advantages aJo the existence in paradise radise is no perpetual singing and playing and meditation it is a real life made more pleasant still by the presence and company of beautiful youths and charming young ladies many enlightened moslems assert however that thai the descriptions of paradise are to be understood as figurative and poetical although the admission is secured by good works yet it is asserted to be the result of gods absolute decree dearee founded originally in his great mercy A mediation or atonement as the basis of morality such as christianity understands it is foreign to islam the idea of creation is assent essentially I 1 all v I 1 the same as in genesis there is also plate place for a fall of man but the idea of sin is diff different lerent from that of the bible in the bible as in the revelations of these last days sin bill is condemned not only in its outward acts but is traced to its source in the 14 heart beart and there condemned the very state or condition in which unconverted men are is pronounced tobe sinful man is dead in sin under sin but in Isla islam sin Is ie only wrong acdal acts committed against the will of god and the precepts prece tM its of the prophet from this concepta concep conception of eluas consisting only in w wrongdoing rodg doing the redemption is naturally identical and what we call faith has only a secondary place in the system qui bona opera agg sive vir eive ei eh credit inhabit isum 1 I whoever performs per forme good works and believes whether man or woman enters paradise koran an important place in islam has the he doctrine of angels and the demons clinn cy of cw inn who are either good or bad the rhe angels ara are the highest hi CIS t of all created intelligent beings they hey are formed from fire and oth ether r but appear to the elect in human hum an forms they live in the vicinity of god and are his messengers and servants They The carry the revelations from god glod to man give assistance to those who light fight for the faith deliver the soul fron from the body in the moment of death and have important services to perform at the day of judgment inasmuch as it is only broush through their aid that bat the be righteous cross the bridge which saves them from falling into hell satan sua or shelan is an angel fallen from grace through disobedience he has been thrown out of paradise and now tempting men md to commit sing sine the demons or spirits iann 4 nn are beings between angels and men they are objects of various superstitions J M S to be continued |